


An enemy amongst others

by YuriJules



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Identifying Marks - Freeform, M/M, Maybe a slow burn - I don't know yet, Mild Language, Yuri Plisetsky is a Brat
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-15
Updated: 2017-05-27
Packaged: 2018-11-01 04:35:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,475
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10914450
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/YuriJules/pseuds/YuriJules
Summary: In a world where a mark on your skin predestines your relationship with the most important person in your life, Yuri ends up with an archenemy mark.Kind of soulmate au while also enemies to friends to lovers au.





	1. Eye of a Tiger

Yuri Plisetsky. Otabek first heard that name when he was thirteen.

“No, every one of you is doing it wrong!” Yelled the Russian coach at the students in the ballet class. “Everyone look at Yuri Plisetsky!” All the heads turned to the person at which Yakov, apparently that was the coach’s name, was pointing, stating the mistakes the students were making. The young boy by the bar, exactly proving Yakov’s point by being perfect, was staring into distance, clearly focused on himself and his dancing.

The same exact boy who was meant to be Otabek’s archenemy was right now standing in front of him, basically being praised by the coach. He was not grinning or looking smug as one normally would when receiving praise. No, this boy was different, almost as if not caring what people say of him, be it praise or hate. That was his archenemy, looking straight ahead, aiming for the first place, and even beyond. There was no way Otabek could possibly overthrow him. If anything, he was ready to lower his head and let the soldier in front of him decapitate him because he already lost the war he was suppose to lead in his life. He would just surrender because such a determination couldn’t be found in just anyone.

Every person in the world had a name which held a great importance in their life written somewhere on their body. There were no exceptions. So far there haven’t been any traces of people without a tattoo. Sometimes the matched pairs were the weirdest combinations. No one knew how a two people from the other side of the world who will never meet could possibly be matched. Somehow, no one ever doubted how destiny worked and therefore it was set that a mark symbolized a person of a great importance to the bearer of it.

The marks had different colours depending on the bond the two people were suppose to have. Black marks were meant for archenemies and rivals in all meanings of that word. Red were for lovers, blue for a trusting and intimate relationship. There were also a silver, almost white tattoos which meant a pure bond - these usually showed up when the most important person in one’s life was their sibling, parent or childhood friend. Golden tattoos were often between people who saw more than just one thing in each other.

Otabek’s own black mark which said Юрий Плисецкий in cursive was resting on his left shoulder blade and right now, he felt the urge to touch it and scratch it away vigorously. A few people would probably stare at him weirdly if he did that, so he managed to keep calm and survive until the end of the class.

Since that day, Otabek lost all motivation to be angry at his archenemy. How could he possibly hate someone just because it was given by destiny? Was there a rule that he had to hate the boy he saw that day just because his tattoo said so? He couldn’t even get to know him better.

It was also the day when Otabek decided that he won’t let destiny decide for him. He knew, however, that it won’t be easy to get through the boy that easily. What if he already decided that Otabek must be his worst enemy and that he would follow his destiny?

Otabek sighed, looking over the public ice rink in front of him. His four friend decided to take him to the ice rink as if he didn’t spend almost every single day there. Apparently, they wanted to learn the stuff that he does. That’s how he ended up watching his four friends falling on their butt every minute or two when they tried to do a spin or even a jump which was absolutely brutal for someone who was barely standing on the ice.

“Otabek! Come teach us!” The leanest and at the same time tallest called out, waving his hand at Otabek. The boy was smiling brightly and despite being four years older than Otabek, he looked much younger. Otabek guessed it must have been his puppy-like appearance, despite clad in layers of black, that made it possible.

A girl who had piercings in her ears, nose and eyebrow skated towards the puppy boy, throwing an arm around the guy’s shoulders despite being a head shorter than him. It would look almost hilarious if her appearance wasn’t so scary.

“Tazhay, what’s taking you so looong! Even Arystan there could make him come right away.” The girl pointed towards a guy whose facial features were almost similar to hers. He was taller than her but it was clear that those two were siblings.

“Don’t talk shit about me, Dasha!” The girl’s brother shouted at her, quickly sliding towards her. Arystan however didn’t count with braking which resulted with him knocking down his sister and Tazhay. The three of them started cursing each other.

A few seconds later, a fourth person glided behind them, looking absolutely unfazed by the shenanigans those three were doing. Everyone could tell by his appearance that he was the one with the most brains and reason. He sighed at the sight of those three.

“And here I thought some of you were normal. Do you think that’s how you show that you wanna listen to a friend?” He yelled at the three monsters in leather still lying on the ice.

“Serik, it’s okay.” Otabek tried to say but he was interrupted by Arystan who was standing up from the ice.

“No, it’s not! You are obviously worried about something. This last week you’ve been all quiet and even your coach said so!” Arystan said, finally gaining some control over his legs and stopping the slight shaking in them. The two other people on the ice also managed to get up in the meanwhile, while nodding to all that Arystan was saying.

“So tell your older friends what’s bothering you.” Dasha finished his brother’s thoughts.

“Guys, we’ve been over this...” Otabek tried to get out of the conversation which he had several times with them already.

“Is it again about _that_?” Serik asked, raising his eyebrows at Otabek who involuntarily nodded. “You should stop researching more about him. That’s creepy and it’s not gonna change anything.”

“Just forget about that guy, Otabek, you can’t fight destiny.” Arystan said. Not that it is that easy, Otabek thought, reminding himself that this season the stem of his problems was going to compete against him.

“Oh! I’ve got an idea!” Arystan roared.

And that’s how the group ended in front of a tattoo parlor.

“Uh, Arystan, are you aware that I can’t get a tattoo over the mark, right?” Otabek made sure. It was true, it was impossible to tattoo over the name on his skin. He didn’t try it but other people have and they always woke up with the mark showing through.

“No, but you can still mask it!” Arystan obviously looked pleased with his idea.

“And that would help him how exactly?” Serik asked. “When he gets a tattoo on that place it will only remind him of his situation.”

“I think that’s a great idea!” Otabek decided. Everyone turned his eyes to him in disbelief. “What? It’s not a bad idea.” He stated and entered the parlor. His friends had to wake up from their trance before entering as well.

“No peeking.” Otabek said and went to the tattoo artist who looked very confused at first by Otabek’s request but it wasn’t like he could really speak into other people’s decisions.

“I can’t believe he wouldn’t let us watch.” Tazhay said with his arms crossed on his chest. He looked a bit like a puppy who was denied going into a room full of food.

“Let’s hope he doesn’t do anything stupid.” Dasha added, looking over to the corner where Otabek was sitting, letting the artist work on his shoulder blade.

“You’re underestimating him.” Serik and Arystan said at the same time, both of them looking surprised because they rarely agreed when it came to serious matters.

After a few hours, Otabek stood up and his friends finally got to shoot up and yell: “Show us!”

Otabek turned with his back to them so they could see the tattoo on his shoulder blade. It was an eye with a few black mottles around it. The spots around the eye ensured that it looked like a tiger’s eye. The name mark was sitting right under the eye which made the mark rather visible instead of masking it.

“Whaaat?” Tazhay, who saw it first, squeaked.

“Otabek!” Serik sounded in shock which was rare.

“Is that _his_ eye-colour?” The siblings yelled in disbelief. Otabek nodded quite satisfied with himself.

It was true, the eye was a light green colour which was almost identical to the colour of his archenemy’s eyes. Of course it was impossible to catch the exact shade of them but it was a pretty damn near match.

“I’m more surprised that you know his eye colour.” Otabek pointed out that his friends knew right away - the colour of Yuri Plisetsky’s eyes and that instead of hiding the mark, Otabek highlighted who his enemy was and basically symbolized him on his back.

“Of course we know. We have to know who our friend’s archenemy is!” Arystan stated, not really talking about the time when the four of them got together to google all about Yuri Plisetsky and spent a whole night scrolling through the photos of the young figure skating prodigy.

Otabek just gave him a look before putting on his shirt. He still couldn’t think about that boy as his archenemy. If anything, he could say that he looked up to him but he wouldn’t admit that to his friends. At least not yet.

 

* * *

 

“Yuriii!” Mila skated towards the boy who was currently checking his phone for any news.

“What is it again?” Yuri said without even looking at Mila when she threw her arm around his neck.

“Look at this!” She almost punched him with her phone which she put too close to his face.

“Geez, hag, give it here!” Yuri pulled out Mila’s phone out of her hands before she could hurt him with it. He glared at the screen when he saw a photo of Viktor on the podium as a winner yet once again.

“What is it? Do you want me to be happy for that idiot?” Yuri waved with the phone as if to show that he had no interested in Viktor winning another medal.

“No, your enemy is there with him.” Mila pointed at the screen, showing the Kazakh skater with an undercut.

“Uhm, yeah, and?” Yuri asked, not really getting her point. Why should he be interested? He didn’t like more people so why should be another guy any different? He doubted that there could possibly be anyone more annoying than JJ, the guy whom he first met when he went to see Viktor at last year’s Grand Prix. He didn’t speak to him properly but he heard enough to want to punch him.

“Haha, Yuri, don’t be like that. It’s your destiny to hate that guy.” Mila said with a laugh. “It’s not really a surprise with your attitude towards almost everyone. No wonder you’d get a mark with your enemy.” She added a bit quietly now, almost as if speculating if that is how marks are decided.

“What did you say, you ugly hag?!” Yuri turned around to catch her but Mila was already a few steps ahead, gliding quickly towards the other side of the rink.

That was Yuri’s everyday life. He was always teased by everyone that it was his personality that brought him the enemy mark and not a different type. His rinkmates always meant it purely as a joke, however, it still wasn’t easy to bear those words on his shoulders. It wasn’t his fault that he could get passionate, at least that’s what he told himself to keep himself sane.

It didn’t help much that a year later, Viktor ‘run after the man that asked you to be his coach ass drunk’ Nikiforov decided to leave for Japan. Apparently, the golden Japanese signs on his lower back, which he showed off too much for Yuri’s liking, meant Katsuki Yuuri who was a pitiable skater Yuri saw in the GPF almost too often but never succeeding in it.

That’s why Yuri decided to go after Viktor. He couldn’t possibly think about leaving his skating career while also breaking his promise to Yuri and leave for that piggy. No matter whether he was Viktor’s matched but he wouldn’t let Viktor ruin his career for a guy who absolutely destroyed Yuri in a dance battle while being drunk on champagne.

His stay in Japan wasn’t too long but probably long enough to give Yakov a heart attack. He left after seeing Viktor too happy in the company of Yuu-Katsudon. Yuri would never admit it but he cared about Viktor enough to let him be happy and not ruin it right away. Viktor was going to have enough trouble with piggy accepting that his matched was actually there next to him. All these trivialities only motivated Yuri to kick Katsudon’s ass in the upcoming competitions. He wasn’t going to give up.

 

* * *

 

It happened after they arrived at the hotel in Barcelona where they were staying for the GPF. Yuri avoided having to check himself in by letting Yakov do it and in the meanwhile he managed to get into a brawl with that asshole JJ and his girlfriend.

“Otabek! Where are you going?” Yuri watched the dumbass in front of him shifting his attention towards someone else.

Ah, that was his destiny-given enemy, looking all cool while taking his sunglasses off of his nose almost too careful not to put them on his head as if he heard Yuri’s criticism of JJ wearing his sunglasses on his head.

“Out to eat.” Otabek replied with a quiet but potent voice.

“Eating alone? You’re still an odd one, huh? Want to join us for dinner?” JJ suggested.

“Thanks, but I’ll pass.” Otabek turned halfway away before looking back at Yuri.

“Huh? What’s with you, asshole?” Yuri’s words poured out of him before he could stop himself. Oh, there go his chances of trying to make a good impression on his enemy. Now Otabek will definitely start hating him and they will fulfill the destiny or something like that. Well, nevermind.

Otabek just stared at Yuri for a bit before turning around without a word and walking out of the hotel.

Yuri kept gaping after that guy. Did he seriously ignore him right now? Yuri’s mind automatically declared an abort mission. That enemy of his was way too cool and looked like he was definitely able to kick ass, even despite his height. There was no way Yuri could even match him, Otabek must be even twice as strong as him and Yuri didn’t really have any assets against that man except maybe his knife shoes and his loud mouth.

 

* * *

 

The next time Yuri met him was in the streets of Barcelona.

Yuri was hiding away from his crazy fangirls which were sniffing just around the corner. Why did Yuri have to put up with that? He would do well even without those stalking machines.

Talking about machines, why did he suddenly hear a sound of a motorcycle approaching? He turned around, seeing Otabek in a leather jacket wearing sunglasses and a helmet while straddling the motorcycle.

Eeeh? What was he doing there? Was he going to reveal his hideout and throw him amongst the crocodiles to be eaten?

“Yuri, get on.”

“Huh? You are...” Was Yuri really not imagining things? Wasn’t he supposed to be hated by that guy? Especially after he said those words to him, it was surprising that Otabek would rescue him from this situation.

“Are you coming or not?” Otabek asked without losing his cool when he heard the bunch on the main street realizing where they were.

Yuri jumped on the motorcycle. Right now, his biggest enemies were his fangirls. He will leave the suffering for later when Otabek is going to throw him into a dumpster or something like that.

He was surprised that it didn’t happen when Otabek stopped a few streets farther where no fangirls could catch them. Otabek turned around to look at him.

“Are you alright?” He asked, leaving Yuri gawk at him with open-mouth.

“Uhm...” Otabek glanced at Yuri once again, this time with shyness and uncertainty.

“A-are you gonna beat me up now or what?” Yuri managed to get out and still sound as if he was trying to pick out a fight which was surprising considering that he suddenly felt fear rush through his whole body.

“Why would I do that?” Otabek asked with confusion, staring at Yuri over his shoulder as if he was insane.

“But… you’re...” Yuri didn’t finish his train of thought. Instead he heard Otabek sigh.

“Ah, that thing… right.” Otabek scratched his forehead.

“We are fucking enemies, shouldn’t we fight or something?” Yuri wanted to know. Otabek turned his head to the front away from Yuri who didn’t know whether it was to think about it or simply release the tension in his neck which must have been sore from his position facing Yuri.

“Are you going to become friends with me or not?” Came out of Otabek’s mouth and Yuri just stared at the leather clad back of the other boy. Was he serious? Was it his ‘keep your friends close, but your enemies closer’ strategy to make Yuri suffer later?

“Fine.” Yuri said, putting his arms around Otabek’s waist. “Now let’s go, I’m cold.” Yuri guessed it sounded a little bit bossy but who cared about that. It was Otabek who wanted to be friends with him.

 _If you wanna be friends then let’s do it - this game can be played by both of us,_ Yuri thought.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let's say that Yuri is just a liiiittle bit torn whether to believe destiny or not, haha.
> 
> [Here](https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2NUH8ct6GDPZzJrbFpkc3cxN3M/view?usp=sharing) is Otabek's tattoo with the mark drawn by me. I tried my best.
> 
> I guess I love "soulmate" au's too much. I have like two more prepared because there are never enough soulmate au's.
> 
> If anyone has any prompts, ideas or suggestions, let me know. My tumblr is endlesspit


	2. Something new

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry for taking so much to continue. Exams were hell but I passed and now I can finally write without the guilt and am actually motivated to write a lot.
> 
> So here, enjoy the new chapter. Yes, I got inspired by the new info gained from the manga but I'm bending it a bit... Well, don't mind me blabbing about unimportant stuff and enjoy.

It was already getting darker when Yuri told Otabek to stop at a street which was just one block away from the centre. Yuri wanted to make sure that no one would see him how he slid off of the back of his archenemy’s motorcycle. He wasn’t ready to accept yet that they agreed to be friends just a while ago.

“Yuriooo!” Yuri turned around quickly, startled by the familiar voice that belonged to a certain Japanese. Well, there went his luck of keeping it under covers at least for a day.

“Don’t call me Yurio, you ugly-” He was cut short by Viktor’s arm that went around his shoulders.

“Now now, Yurio, be nice.” Viktor said, looking over at Otabek. “Oh, hello there, Otabek.” He waved at him with the hand which was still around Yuri’s shoulder. Then he turned his face to Yuri.

“Were you up to a fight, or something? If yes, we’re sorry to interrupt.” Viktor whispered towards Yuri, however, it wasn’t in any way subtle so Otabek could probably catch the words without a problem.

“Huh?!” Yuri shook off Viktor’s arm but before he could say anything else, Yuuri was there to save the situation.

“Maybe you could join us for dinner?” Yuuri suggested, making a half circle with his hand to show what he meant by ‘we’ and apparently, it was them plus Katsudon’s sister and former ballet teacher.

Somehow, everyone except Yuri who put up some resistance agreed to it and the six of them ended up settling it an outside part of a restaurant. A little bit later, they were joined by two other skaters.

Yuri had to give his everything into not flipping the table over; Everyone at the table knew that Otabek and Yuri were meant to be archenemies - Yuri guessed that it was Viktor and Yuuri who informed the other skaters - so now the both of them were getting looks of uncertainty from the other skaters as if they were to jump on each other any second.

_ This is bullshit, _ Yuri thought. He couldn’t take much more of the stares that were thrown at him and Otabek. He was already in the middle of standing up, not realizing how it must have looked like for the other skaters sat around the table. His movement was too rapid and Yuri was thinking of an excuse for leaving the table. Ready to say something about having to go to the bathroom, another voice came from his left side.

“A get-together! Fantastic!” He heard that annoying voice say and an unpleasant giggle from a woman. JJ and his girlfriend. Just on time. Now no one would question why Yuri left his place so abruptly.

The rest of the skaters started getting up as well, talking about what to do next. Yuri managed to sneak out without anyone realizing which gave him the time to wander through the city centre alone and be left with his own thoughts.

Yuri had no idea why he was suppose to be the one who everyone stared at just because his archenemy was a fellow skater as well and they spent time in a group together. Honestly, if Yuri had to choose, he would spend a whole afternoon with Otabek than with most of the skaters. He was already used to people telling him how they can’t wait for him to find his archenemy just so they could watch it unfold.

He was fed up will all the people having these expectations that he had to follow all the time. Having to act upon them was exhausting and annoying. Being considered a kitten instead of a tiger was one of the many misconceptions people usually had about him. He hand to be perfect in a way other wanted. Following destiny was another of the objectives which society wanted to respect, making it impossible to go against it.

Was destiny right all the time though? It was a question which Yuri considered several times in his life. Beginning with how absolutely ironic his destiny must be when he got an archenemy as his matched, despite having enough enemies and rivals in the skating world and outside of it. He wasn’t in need for another and have a mark proving it.

Through thinking and wandering, Yuri got back to the hotel. He decided to go straight to his room since it was already late and he was suppose to be competing the day after.

 

* * *

Yuri was breathing heavily. It was as if he couldn’t catch his breath because of how much his lungs felt on fire. People were screaming around him and a bright light hit him hard in the eyes.

He couldn’t exactly remember how his program went and if he made a mistake or not. Judging by the noise around him, he must have brought a satisfactory result. Yuri looked around and slided towards the way out closest to the kiss and cry where Yakov an Lilia were waiting for him, amazement showing through on their usually stern faces. Yuri had no idea what to think of it, so he just simply passed them, put on the blade guards, and getting to the bench to get his scores.

He hugged the cat plushie which he picked up on his way from the ice, watching the screen ready to hear his the results which, it turned out, were better than he could ever imagine. He surpassed Viktor’s world record and before he could even do anything, he was being hugged and lifted by Yakov whose excitement was probably as big as Yuri’s.

He managed to disappear from the kiss and cry before anyone could question him, although that didn’t work out in the end and he still had to spend a few minutes talking to reporters. He managed to join the other skaters before Chris finished his program. He chose a seat behind the other skaters so that his arrival wouldn’t be noticed.

Again, he wasn’t too lucky though and Sara noticed him approaching them. Everyone suddenly started congratulating him, before turning back to the ice where it was Otabek’s turn to skate.

“Ah, look who’s skating, Yurio!” Yuuri said, nodding towards Otabek as if it wasn’t completely obvious. Yuri suddenly felt a fire inside him ignite, annoyed by the way everyone treated him like he had to comment on everything his alleged archenemy did or was about to do. Maybe that was what made him hate that guy so much?

Yuri’s next actions were completely subconscious as he threw his legs in front of him, placing them on top of the seat between Yuuri and Sara and crossing them.

“Davai!” He shouted towards Otabek. The stares, which were a combination of shock and amazement, were quite uncomfortable, however, Yuri won against the need to shift under the pressure. Another amount of studious looks came when Otabek actually turned towards him and gave him a thumbs up.

Was the guy serious? Yuri had to restrain from gaping back at Otabek. It was impossible to say whether the guy really meant it but he didn’t appeared to be shocked or surprised by Yuri’s outburst just now even in the slightest.

Thankfully for Yuri, the music started and the skaters were polite enough not to ruin anyone’s enjoyment of the performance by talking over the music. Yuri had to admit that the performance was amazing despite Otabek not appearing as the most elegant, he had a different kind of graceful spell which couldn’t be compared with someone else’s.

Right when the music ended, Yuri got up before anyone could even turn around to look at him, and he left the other skaters who were calling after him to get some kind of explanation. To be honest, Yuri himself didn’t know what he was doing. He just knew that he didn’t need other people sticking their noses in his business.

 

* * *

Yuri took out his earphones just in time to hear the news.

“Hey, does that mean Katsudon’s retiring?” Yuri asked, grabbing Viktor by the arm. The words that followed out of Viktor’s mouth made Yuri gape. Suddenly, he was held in Viktor’s embrace. Yuri didn’t fight it, still shocked by the words. Viktor let him go soon enough so Yuri could go back to focusing on the program he was about to perform. Not that he could focus when receiving such news but he couldn’t take it back now.

That Katsudon was making fun of all of them. Just a little while ago, he beat Viktor’s record and now he was retiring? Pf, don’t make him laugh. Yuri was mad and he was gonna show that.

He skated towards the middle of the rink, hearing a ‘davai’ from right, where he saw Otabek hugging a bear plushie. Huh? Otabek was cheering at him? What was it that Otabek did when Yuri cheered on him? A thumbs up, ah, yeah, that’s right. Yuri’s body moved on it’s own as that thought entered his mind, reciprocating the motion.

The last spin… and slide, stop. His mind was blank at the moment. Breathe in, breathe out, in, out, out. No, that didn’t make sense, breathing was too difficult right now. Tears started to form in his eyes. He dropped on his knees, hearing only clapping and something along the lines of ‘his score beats’ and ‘win the gold’.

He raised his head to look around, finding the amazed but pleased faces of Yakov and Lilia. Viktor’s face didn’t look too sad because it wasn’t his Yuuri that won, he actually seemed to be at peace with this result. He was holding his arms around the Katsudon whose surprised expression actually angered Yuri because was it really that unbelievable that he won?

And then Otabek. He was still clapping as the rest of the audience. His face was relaxed, his eyes soft with a genuine respect in them. Yuri wondered if the guy was normal. He placed fourth but was still cheering for the enemy party that was Yuri himself. The look was also one of its kind - reporters would probably get a lot of money off of it as it was a rare sight to see Otabek look without straining his face too much or a complete pokerface.

It was time to get on the podium and receive their medals. Yuri had to admit that he quite liked the heavy golden medal swinging on his neck. He was never much into medals and flowers but having a proof that he won the Grand Prix only at the age of fifteen was a nice feeling. Now he could finally throw it into Viktor’s and Katsudon’s face. That bastard pig can’t just retire now, can he?

After taking a billion photos on the podium, there were other skaters who wanted to take a photo with him, reporters who wanted to talk to the youngest ever competitor to win the GPF and of course his own coaches who weren’t going to go without pointing out some mistakes that he made in the performance but who congratulated him at the same time.

Yuri searched through the crowds, trying to find an escape. He saw the familiar undercut with a yellow and blue jacket. For a moment, their eyes met, Otabek’s looking really uncomfortable amongst the reporters and Yuri was glad that he wasn’t the only one suffering. Suddenly, he got an idea.

“Excuse me.” Yuri snarled at the reporters around him which only made him sound sarcastic. He made his way through to Otabek who now was staring at Yuri with a bit of uncertainty and surprise at the same time. Yuri finally got to him, a little bit too close since he was pushed out like a pimple by the mass of reporters.

“What are you doing?” Otabek asked unsure what was Yuri’s plan. Yuri grabbed Otabek’s wrist and then kept pushing him in front of him to get out of the crowd quickly before the reporters could figure out that they were in fact escaping.

When they got to the hallway which led to the locker rooms, where they both had their stuff, he fastened his pace until he got into the changing room. Thankfully, the rest of the skaters were still interviewed so no one was going to ask what were they doing there right now.

Yuri sighed when he closed the door after them. He knew that Yakov would be pissed that he got out of the interviews and now Yakov will be the one having to answer most of the reporters but he could deal with him later. Instead of thinking about that he turned to Otabek.

“Yuri, what are-”

“Get changed and get your stuff, we’re getting out of this hell hole.” Yuri said before Otabek could even form the rest of the sentence. The latter was about to say something about to say something along the lines ‘but is that okay’ but obviously, he refrained from it. Yuri had to admit, he liked that guy’s approach.

Yuri opened his locker and most of his clothes fell out of it. Otabek looked over at the mess, raising his eyebrows and ready to say something but Yuri stopped him with a glare. That man had no right to criticize the young winner.

Yuri started getting out of his outfit, throwing it over the bench and then putting on his black jeans and tiger t-shirt. He looked over at Otabek to check how far in changing he was and to find out that Otabek had his jeans on, currently putting a grey t-shirt on.

“Huh, wait, what is that?” Yuri said, taking a step closer towards Otabek, his eyes on his bare back. Was that a tattoo?

“Oh that...” Otabek said after looking over his shoulder to see what caught Yuri’s attention. Otabek’s face turned red when he realized what the tattoo is and how it must appear to another person, especially when the mark incorporated in the tattoo is said person’s name.

Before he could hide it, Yuri was behind him, studying the tattoo. Otabek simply stared at the lockers in front of him, too embarrassed to see Yuri’s reaction which came soon in the form of a gasp.

“Is that your mark?” Yuri asked but then he continued before Otabek could even reply. “Why would you accentuate it by putting a tattoo around it?” Yuri was totally perplexed, why would someone just highlight their enemy mark? His hand touched it before he could stop himself.

“Oh, sorry, I... ” Yuri didn’t know what else to say to make it less awkward so he just said the first thing that came to his mind. “Hurry up, or they will find us.” Yuri turned around with his face red as a tomato, and put on his hoodie on and then his jacket, and lastly his shoes. When he checked back with Otabek again, he saw the man was already packed up.

They left the ice rink, walking side by side in silence through the streets of Barcelona. Since almost every person interested in ice skating was probably still at the ice rink, trying to take a look at the legend that was born today. Sadly for them, the legend wasn’t there anymore. However, Yuri and Otabek could be assured that they won’t meet any crazy fans or skaters who would want to do something together.

“Whoa! That’s amazing!” Yuri suddenly exclaimed. Otabek realized that Yuri actually stopped to stare into one of the shop windows and that brought him to get closer and check out what was it that caught Yuri’s attention. It was a magenta jacket embellished with sequins. On its own, it appeared as pretty gaudy and showy which would probably be against Otabek’s tastes, however, he has already seen a lot of Yuri’s fashion decisions in photos and in real life to know that he shouldn’t judge the jacket on the rack.

“Do you wanna go inside?” Otabek asked, very much aware of Yuri’s face full of enthusiasm.

“Can we?” Yuri turned to him, and how could Otabek say no to those eyes.

Yuri actually looked good in that over-the-top jacket. Maybe it was that they, Yuri and the jacket, both had a presence about themselves which was a match and it made it impossible for either to look bad.

“Hey, Otabek, look!” Yuri waved at him to gain his attention. Otabek lifted his eyes toward Yuri who just twisted his upper body to show of the overpriced Gucci sunglasses while puckering his lips to imitate those stupid modelling looks.

Otabek bended over and bursted out laughing which threw Yuri off guard since he wasn’t expecting his companion to show his emotions this strongly. After all, Otabek was known for his stoic expression.

“Actually, I’m gonna get these.” Yuri decided, putting them on top of the magenta jacket from before. If anything, they would remind him of doing the almost impossible and that’s making Otabek show something else besides his usual poker face.

“How about this?” Once Otabek calmed down, he picked one of the shirts he was looking at just before Yuri made him laugh. It was a grey t-shirt with geometrical lines which created a cool looking tiger. Yuri’s eyes almost fell out of his head. He immediately crossed the distance that kept him from the rack where Otabek stood.

“This is incredible.” Yuri stated and started rummaging through the t-shirts to look for his size because the one Otabek showed him was too big. Honestly, how could this guy be his biggest enemy? Would he one day simply get rid of all of Yuri’s favourite things just to hurt him? The guy surely knew what Yuri liked.

“Why are the sizes so huge?” Yuri cried out when he didn’t find his own size. Maybe this was Otabek’s plan and he wanted Yuri suffer this way.

“Then you buy one.” Yuri said, pointing towards the rack. “They surely have your size.”

“Huh? Me?” Otabek asked, surprised. It wasn’t really his style but he had to admit that the t-shirt was nice. “But then you can’t have it...”

“I can’t have it anyway, so take it, dammit!” Yuri pushed one of the t-shirts towards Otabek, and it was even his size. Maybe Yuri was already planning on borrowing it in the future, or maybe not, who knows.

When Yuri finally convinced Otabek to buy the damn t-shirt, his attention shifted towards tank-tops which were very revealing. Otabek was going to say something about Yuri’s health if he were to wear this in the winter but then again, he probably wasn’t the one to say anything.

In the end, Otabek bought some more pieces of clothing as well so it wouldn’t be just Yuri carrying hoards of shopping bags. Yuri was actually surprised how much fun it was. He could easily talk to Otabek about generally anything and Otabek would listen. Was this how friends acted all the time? If yes, then it would probably be for the best to go separate ways now that Yuri could before getting hurt. How much could Yuri trust the guy?

They parted in the late afternoon when Lilia and Yakov demanded Yuri’s presence at dinner and Otabek had to talk to his own coach.

It was in the evening of that day when Yuri saw Otabek pass the window nearby the place where he was sitting, bitching to Lilia and Yakov about the exhibition program.

“I’m leaving.” Yuri said to them, grabbing his jacket and leaving the hotel before either of them could comment on it.

It didn’t take him too long to catch up with Otabek.

“Hey, where are you going?” Yuri asked him, which startled Otabek since he wasn’t aware that Yuri was close by.

“Ah, uhm, the club.” Otabek shrugged as if it was not really anything special.

“Take me with you!” Yuri demanded. He couldn’t take more of Yakov’s and Lilia’s crappy conversations, or Viktor’s and Katsudon’s sugary moments.

“Aren’t you still fifteen?” Otabek asked, trying his best to not say no to that boy. He knew he would be unable to say a direct no to him. He already knew that he didn’t want to make an enemy out of Yuri, especially after getting to know him better.

“I’m sixteen next March...” Yuri replied as if it would make stuff better and help him persuade Otabek to let him tag along.

“I’m sorry.” Otabek said quickly, deciding to run the fastest he could just to get away from Yuri’s sight. At least he didn’t have to say a direct no.

“You bastard! You are only eighteen yourself!” Yuri yelled after him.

And just like that, his mission to find that bastard has begun.


End file.
